Rooibos, Date and Banana Cake

I'm attempting to give up coffee again. I know, I know... it seems as if I'm always trying to ditch the caffeine habit but every time I try I last a little longer. What's that saying? Fall down nine times, get up ten! I think my fall down count is quite a bit higher than nine though ;)
In place of coffee (arghhhh just typing the word makes me want one) I drink a lot of different herbal teas and one of my favorites is rooibos tea.
Rooibos, pronounced roy-bus, means "red bush" and is grown in South Africa. It has a gorgeous red colour, a tonne of health benefits and lovely to drink hot or as an iced tea. Its also great to cook with so I decided to bake my Rooibos, Date and Banana Cake:

The flavour of this cake is absolutely divine and for years I made it with Earl Grey tea. If rooibos isn't your cup of tea then give the Earl Grey a try its just as nice. I love the rich colour rooibos brings to this cake and the subtle flavour and gentle aroma it creates.
This cake is beautiful and moist and I love the combination of the tea, the bananas and the generous scattering of the gorgeous dates. Sprinkle it with a little icing sugar and its ready to serve.

It's a very easy cake to prepare and it can be cooked in either a bundt tin, a round tin or a loaf tin. It does rise quite a bit which is great, so choose your tin carefully. I like to use my bundt tin because its fun to use and the cake looks a bit like a snow covered alien ship on the plate... totally the look I was going for ;)

A slice of this cake is yummy with coffee, oh I mean herbal tea and its perfect sliced up as is or you can give the slices a smear of butter. When I pack slices for the lunchboxes or the picnic basket, I butter them and sandwich them together in pairs but when chatting with a girlfriend, we're content to nibble on it just as it is.

Even though my family aren't fans of the actual tea they do love this cake. The tea flavour isn't overpowering and I think everyone loves a banana cake no matter what you combine it with. Actually I'm not sure they realise there is rooibos in it - please don't let them read this post :)

If you would like to try this Rooibos, Date and Banana Cake you can download my recipe by clicking the link or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer for later.

I hope you and your family enjoy this cake as much as we do, and if you haven't tried rooibos tea before then consider having a cup or two throughout the day because it is lovely. Its not coffee but I do enjoy it!